going green

is it just me or does Ryan Reynolds makes you wanna smile like a loon :) can't wait to catch this movie!

english woes

i have a dirty little secret... YOUTUBE COMMENTS

yes, i do watch videos half the time, but most of the time, i usually read the comments that members post. sometimes it gets too heated verging on slurs and curses, that a lot of comments are removed. so when my friend A forwarded me a link that had her so displeased and frothing on the mouth, well i was a little bit intrigued.

my reaction: i was amused but slightly insulted for filipino english teachers and she did apologized on tweeter (11-3-10), so let's just be graceful and accept it. http://twitter.com/cherry4eva84/status/29552747560 

“First I’d like to give you my sincere apologies for what seems to be a misunderstanding.

It has come to my attention that many of you from the Philippines have posted comments protesting that i was being derisive by mimicking Filipinos when they speak English.

Therefore, in light of this matter I’d like to take this opportunity to clear the air.

In spite of what many people believe, I myself did NOT mention anything

about the Philippines or Filipino accent whilst on the TV show.

On the other hand, I recall bringing up Southeast Asia and not the Philippines and the subtitles were inserted when the show was being edited of which I was not aware of until it was aired.

The TV show where this footage was taken from was designed to amuse its audience and my sole purpose was to entertain the viewers by coming up with lighthearted stories.

Since the producer knows that i speak English he asked me if I could

share any episodes that touch upon the English language.

As we all know every country has a typical accent when its people speak English (including myself) so after giving it some thought, I came up with a few lines where I simply tried to compare different English accents: the somewhat rigid British accent and beginners in Southeast Asia whose English tends to be a little hard-edged. No pun or ridicule was intended.

As an individual who use to take English classes over the phone with a Filipino instructor, I give you my word that even the mere thought of mocking Filipinos would never cross my mind.

I cannot tell you how much Filipino fans mean to me and as much as I love them, I would in no way

hurt or upset them.

I hope I have clarified any misunderstandings and once again I am truly sorry if I inadvertently

hurt anyone’s feelings.

-i really love you, my Filipino fans.. “

now, now, i know what you're all gonna say. YOU WERE AMUSED?!?

yes, i was actually laughing at her. in mimicking filipino english teachers she just shouted to the whole world of her ignorance. poor girl. we all know for a fact that filipino english teachers has to get a series of tests and be certified for them to be able to teach, for the reason that we are not native english speakers.

well let's deal with facts: yes, uncontested i believe filipinos are the best english speakers in asia, because we have a neutral accent that can be universally understood, but not all of filipinos can speak english fluently, but at least they try. take my boss for instance, he's an englishman and he's travelled all over Asia, when he's asking directions in the streets, he usually get's "NO ENGLISH" but here in the philippines, anywhere he goes, he's given directions albeit sometimes in butchered tag-lish but he gets to his destination. does that tell us something? yes, we do try.

i once worked as an english teacher for koreans eons ago, though because i was not certified, i was just given ENGLISH CONVERSATION PRACTICE 1 & 2, and it was a fun job. i get to converse and speak about different topics all the time and most of my korean students, when they're not playing golf, are nice and respectful. so let's not generalize.

my actual worry is that most schools in the philippines uses the english language as the method for teaching, well minus the filipino subjects. i'm thankful for the nuns in my alma mater for implementing an english-speaking policy when i was in highschool, it was very helpful when i got to university and my job. but nowadays, whenever one goes anywhere in metro manila you'll hear students speaking in english even when they are not in school. that's bad. they might forget our language entirely. we should speak in our vernacular language because we are here in the philippines not in the US or UK. 

my concerns may seem odd to most, but it's true, it happens to me all the time, because i've been working and speaking to english speakers 8 hours a day for the past five years, i sometimes forget some words in tagalog, that's why i make it a point to speak tagalog and even my dad's dialect when i'm out of the office.  

there was this one time, i went home to the province for my mom's birthday, so i went to the grocery with my sister S to buy some ingredients so i can cook my family a feast. i completely forgot the tagalog word for black pepper. so i asked one of the clerks, "san nakalagay yung black pepper niyo?" and she answered, "doon sa dulo, number 4", so off i go with my sister to aisle 4, we were both perplexed because we just couldn't find it, so when i asked the same clerk again, to show me where it was, she accompanied me back to aisle 4 and pointed, "ayan o, peper plates" and funny enough there was a row of paper plates in rainbow colors! it may seem funny and i did have a laugh with my sister but i felt so ashamed, now whenever i go grocery shopping it always brings a smile to my face whenever i see the word Paminta in my list.